We're Winning

[autocat]

Time to slay the giant

[MSUBRONCO]

I'm not going to get my hopes up, yes the cats can win, but my gut tells me NDSU will be to much and win a close game, I hope my gut is wrong!!

[JDoub]

Going into the Fargodome this year, has such a different feel than it did last year. Completely different, in fact.

If we win (which would NOT surprise me AT ALL), that would be validation of all that Choate has been talking about and doing since he arrived. If we lose in a way similar to last year, there needs to be another soul searching exercise. If we lose a competitive game, it means we are on the right trajectory and getting very close. We are on the path from good, to great.

It just feels like it's time to knock them off their pedestal.


btw, Montana State leads the all-time series 21-14 dating back to 1914, and we beat NDSU in the semifinals on our way to a National Championship in 1976. (ask Dan Davies about it, he was on that team)

[John K]

Going into the Fargodome this year, has such a different feel than it did last year. Completely different, in fact.

If we win (which would NOT surprise me AT ALL), that would be validation of all that Choate has been talking about and doing since he arrived. If we lose in a way similar to last year, there needs to be another soul searching exercise. If we lose a competitive game, it means we are on the right trajectory and getting very close. We are on the path from good, to great.

It just feels like it's time to knock them off their pedestal.


btw, Montana State leads the all-time series 21-14 dating back to 1914, and we beat NDSU in the semifinals on our way to a National Championship in 1976. (ask Dan Davies about it, he was on that team)

I agree 100% that it feels completely different going into this game than it did last year. I expected us to lose badly last year, maybe not quite as bad as 52-10, but I didn't expect it to be too much closer than that. NDSU may or may not have slipped half a notch from last year, but there is no question that the 2019 Bobcats are a much better team than in 2018. If I was betting purely with my head, I'd still have to go with NDSU to pull out a relatively close win...somewhere in the range of 7-14 points. I certainly think we'll cover the spread, and I'd also bet everything I own on the under, because I don't think there's any way the two teams will combine for 48 points.

In referring to your potential scenarios above, I believe the middle one...losing a competitive game, is by far the most likely outcome of the three options. Of the other two though, I think it's far more likely that we'll actually beat them, than it is that we'll bet blown out by a similar margin to last year. I just can't even imagine that happening, unless Rovig goes into "Sneed mode" and throws 4 or 5 interceptions, giving them a bunch of short fields. I can't imagine that happening either though. He has been very inconsistent as a passer, but he probably hasn't gotten enough credit for his ball security. He has committed very few turnovers this season. Plus, I highly doubt that we'll throw it often enough, for him to throw that many picks, unless we fall way behind early, and the running game just isn't working at all. I really can't imagine that happening either.